Sputtering and coughing

[Randy Whistler]

I think I've got it, thanks to everyone here offering help and suggestions!!! I jacked up my back last weekend, so have had to wait until this weekend to get to it.

Once I got back under the hood, I took a look at the ground strap Paul mentioned above - the one from the back of the block to the firewall. First, whomever designed that needs to be shot, but that's a different discussion. It took all of about half a second to notice that the ground strap had totally rotted off about 1/2" underneath the firewall bolt! After running all over town trying to find the parts I needed to splice in a replacement wire, it took about 15 minutes to put it back together.

Doing a test drive, I noticed 2 problems I had previously were no longer - the security light did not come on, no matter what power load was on, and the airbag light that would go on/off now stayed on, as it should(remember, no relay in the box for the airbags). It did flag up a bank 1/2 too lean upon start up, but that cleared up pretty quickly, and since the aforementioned ground strap connects to the engine block, that seemed to be reasonable to me.

So, it appears that, at least until the next problem, this one is solved!!! Thank you so much to everyone who helped guide me to find this issue!! I hope I can repay the favor along the way!

 

[5strmtrp]

Ooooohhhhhhh yyyyeeeaahhhh glad to have helped. Now go have some fun!

 

[Randy Whistler]

Well, s. While the ground wire did correct a couple of problems as I mentioned, it's still starving out on fuel. Today, I drove from house to Dr. and back about 11am. All was good. Drove from east side of town to west side(about 6-7 miles), ate lunch in Tahoe(not running during lunch), started up and went maybe another mile. Noticed when leaving that it acted up a little, but seemed to recover. Seemed to operate OK coming back across town. Went to stop at Wally World, and started sputtering. Drove home, parked and got other car out.

The sputtering was not so bad as to kill the engine, but was obvious. Start up was fine, idled fine. When pressing on the accelerator pedal, that's when the sputtering started. Letting off the pedal, the engine came back to life. As long as I didn't press too far on the pedal, it would run well enough to get home. Still sputtered a bit, but got there. If this was a carburetor engine, I would suspect either the float or level was bad, or the - can't remember the name of it, but the do-hickey that squirts fuel into the throat when stepping on the pedal.

This was probably over the course of 2-3 hours time. No codes, nothing obvious on the panel, all gauges seemed normal. Was even running the A/C through this whole thing.

All the above being said, I feel relatively safe in saying it has something to do with fuel flow. Could be line, tank, pump, filter, maybe even something with the injectors - lots of places to look. Before I jump in with both feet, I'm fetching a new fuel filter tomorrow and will replace it, since that's a fairly easy thing to do. After replacing the filter, will go from there.

But here's a big question in my mind - is there anything in the engine compartment that could be the culprit, like injector assembly, controller, widget3000, whatever? I'm not an injected engine expert, so was wondering.

You guys have been really helpful along the way, and I greatly appreciate both the knowledge shared, and the patience too!!!

 

[S33k3r]

I'm a member of a few truck forums, and one of the things I observed there was that there are several wires coming off the fuel tank. If they deteriorate, or their connections do, you can have issues like you describe. Sorry I do not have more specific information than that, but at least you have another place to look.

 

[Randy Whistler]

I'm a member of a few truck forums, and one of the things I observed there was that there are several wires coming off the fuel tank. If they deteriorate, or their connections do, you can have issues like you describe. Sorry I do not have more specific information than that, but at least you have another place to look.

Thanks, I appreciate all input I can get. I've been a technician/manager in the IT world for over 40 years, and have learned that every little bit helps!! You never know where you'll find the issue with intermittent problems!

Thanks again!

 

[exp500]

One place to check is fuel pump relay and fuel pump fuse/fuse holder. Inspect pins/receptacles for corrosion. Any vehicle now on fuel pumps my opinion is they are suspect after 2 years old, I think its the fuel. Easy to check with fuel pressure gauge.

 

[Fless]

^^^ This. Rent the fuel gauge from your local auto parts store and test for spec. If you can't replicate it with the truck not in motion, run the hose through the cowl-hood gap, stabilize it so you can see it through the windshield, and monitor it.

 

[96-2D-Hoe]

FYI Fuel pressure test kit $25
https://www.harborfreight.com/fuel-injection-pump-tester-62623.html

 

[Randy Whistler]

Been thinking more about this today and while I still know that there may be a fuel flow issue from the tank/pump, I'm thinking more and more it's electrical - particularly since it only seems to act up after it's been driven around for a while and gotten warm - which could easily cause intermittent power issues. I remember viewing a video recently about someone taking the relay box up and found some type of damage underneath, so that's another place to go look.

Regardless of whatever I find, you gotta love this group!! A huge wealth of knowledge and greatly appreciated!!

 

[OR VietVet]

I want to know what fixes it because I have an 02. May be those grounds I talked about. I know you checked but did you see all of them?